Quote: evaluate an interactive computer system in terms of the total performance of the combined man-machine system [»cardSK7_1980]

Quote: the central, quantitative human factors are learning time, performance speed, error rate, retention, and satisfaction

Quote: project managers, designers, and marketing must clearly state the primary human-factor goals for a project

Quote: user-interface specialists found twice as many problems as programmers with guidelines and 12x more problems than user-interface testers [»tognB_1992]

Quote: ethnography is the study of users in their own work environment; video helps capture tacit skills, tricks of the trade, and ways of communicating [»jiroM5_2006]

Quote: British airspace controllers use flight progress strips arranged in racks; records all instructions to the pilot [»hughJA11_1992]

Quote: small differences in a user interface can cause large differences in usability; e.g., command names. A quantitative approach is inappropriate [»carrJM10_1986]

Quote: predicting behavior tokens in ideally skilled performance ignores errors, boundary conditions, and why people act [»carrJM10_1986]

Quote: real interface design requires real users using real applications to achieve real goals; laboratory studies of simple and repetitive tasks are often irrelevant [»carrJM10_1986]

Quote: discount usability engineering--when two or users have a problem that can be explained, then best to fix the problem at once [»nielJ3_1990]

Quote: analyze failures by users when interacting with a system [»furnGW11_1987]

Quote: study user interfaces by an invisible operator that corrects user mistakes [»goodMD10_1984]

Quote: testing blind users with screenreaders; listened incredibly fast; scan with their ears [»theoMF11_2003]

Topic: user-centered design

Quote: need a process to attain ease of use; e.g., establishing testable behavior specifications and testing them [»goulJD3_1985]

Quote: need to understand users through direct contact, interviews, observation, training exercises [»goulJD3_1985]

Quote: the primary test of a user interface is its success with users; ask if they understand and if they can perform tasks easily and efficiently [»apple_1987]

Quote: critical parts of a system should be tested on users [»smitDC4_1982]

Quote: for interactive software, should pay attention to the needs and preferences of users; simple changes can improve the product [»ledgH10_1980]

Quote: DEC uses contextual or action research--action under uncertainty is the norm, can't postpone judgments, real situations [»whitJ5_1989]

Quote: user interface race revealed dramatic differences in tools and skills, invoked a lively discussion [»shneB_1990]

Quote: Card, Moran, and Newell summarized existing psychological knowledge through a simple model of the human processor. They use the model to numerically analyzing human-computer interaction [»cardSK_1983]

Quote: use an approximate system level description of the mind to help predicate behavior [»cardSK_1983]

Quote: the Model Human Processor consists of a perceptual system, cognitive system, and motor system; characterize each component by processor cycle time, memory capacity, decay rate, and code type [»cardSK_1983]

Quote: the cycle time for each processor in the Model Human Processor is on the order of a tenth of a second

Quote: analyze complex behavior with GOMS: goals to be achieved, operators to do things, methods as procedures, and selection rules for choosing among competing methods [»cardSK_1983]

Quote: a GOMS method is a learned procedure, i.e., a conditional sequence of goals and operators

Quote: derive Fitts' Law by assuming that the relative accuracy of movement is constant; the measured time for acquiring a target is within the computed range [»cardSK_1983]

Quote: use the steering law for trajectory-based tasks; like Fitts' law [»accoJ5_1999]

Quote: for steering tasks, tablet and mouse are faster than trackpoint which is faster than trackball or touchpad [»accoJ5_1999]

Quote: use point-completion deadlines to separate pointing time from search time in usability studies [»hornAJ9_2001]

Quote: search for upper-left targets faster than lower-right targets; 2x to 4x; roughly linear for three column layout; lower middle targets slower [»hornAJ9_2001]

Quote: 1/5 second search time for target-only layouts; independent of position

Quote: comparison of constrained pointing tasks and goal-crossing tasks for speed and accuracy [»accoJ4_2002]

Quote: design and test user interfaces with simple paper prototypes that are moved in response to user's actions; allows early, repeated testing of ideas [»rettM4_1994]

Quote: paper-based prototypes were just as effective in uncovering usability problems as high-fidelity prototypes or the product itself [»virzRA4_1996]

Quote: automated usability testing by uploading statistics, suggestion boxes, and dialogue boxes that test user comprehension at error messages [»duttG9_1993]

Quote: automated usability testing is less expensive, more consistent, greater coverage [»ivorMY12_2001]

Quote: dealers can make deals every five seconds over the phone; propose prices and quantities using context, abbreviations, and jargon; through video analysis [»jiroM5_2006]

Quote: use logs and analysis tools to study the use of web applications [»manbU8_2000]

Quote: usability information is often easy to record but hard to interpret (keystrokes), or useful but hard to automatically label (task completion); makes automation difficult [»ivorMY12_2001]

Quote: open-ended testing of Hypertext; measured correct responses to queries [»whalT5_1989]

Quote: usability walkthroughs with users, developers, and human factors experts; everyone writes down reactions then users speak [»biasR9_1991]

Quote: with usability walkthroughs get actual actions by users, problems uncovered by users, and opinions by usability experts; synergy [»biasR9_1991]

Quote: industrial data processing professionals could identify 44% of the serious faults in a human interface [»moliR3_1990]

Quote: use multiple designers to evaluate a user interface; a single designer will only detect a small portion of the usability problems [»nielJ5_1990]

Quote: small differences in layout appropriateness do not affect performance

Quote: using subtitles to group related items clearly improves search time without changing error rates [»hornAJ9_2001]

Quote: a well-organized screen layout allows many items without hurting search time [»hornAJ9_2001]

Quote: while presentation code is difficult to test, can test the domain code through direct calls [»fowlM3_2001]

Quote: test interface by disallowing certain options, e.g., link options in NetBook [»graySH2_1989]

Quote: use sequential disclosure of a function's components when testing an interface; identifies the important feature [»knoxST5_1989]

Quote: user interface race ;e.g., type in quote, place in alphabetic order with repetitions on a line, repeat

Quote: using pop-up menus instead of dialogue-boxes saved 11 seconds for certain telephone queries; estimated savings of $1.6 million in two years [»nielJ11_1993]

Quote: establish human-factors goals in terms of a benchmark set of tasks for each kind of user [»shneB_1998]

Quote: SmartHelp simulated intelligent help with a person, but none of the participants voiced suspicions [»carrJM9_1988]

Quote: pretesting is a powerful aid in designing an experiment that uses subjects [»ledgH_1981]

Quote: in user testing, the experimenter should teach subjects about the editor; otherwise takes too long to learn correctly [»ledgH_1981]

Quote: for user testing, found that on-the-spot recruiting was better than schedules; otherwise many subjects never report [»ledgH_1981]

Quote: less than 1% overlap in findings between independent usability teams; wide variation even within same evaluation technique [»ivorMY12_2001]

Quote: 75% of HTML guidelines appear in only one style guide; low validity [»ivorMY12_2001]